


Electric Hammer to the Heart

by Rumaan



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV 2020)
Genre: F/M, Flirting with Music, Fluff, Flynn/Carrie, Mutual Pining, confronting feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-17
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-12 18:33:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29513952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rumaan/pseuds/Rumaan
Summary: Julie watches old Sunset Curve footage and is mesmerised by Luke
Relationships: Julie Molina/Luke Patterson
Comments: 51
Kudos: 240





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Born out of my belief that sweaty frontman Luke under 90s lights would break Julie

“Look what I found the other day!” Carrie exclaims, waving an old VHS tape triumphantly over her head.

Julie squinted and tilted her head trying to figure out what was written on the side but gave up with a sigh as Carrie kept wiggling the tape around. “I would guess but I can’t see.”

“Sunset Curve performance footage.”

“Ooh,” Flynn said, rushing off the sofa to grab the VHS off her girlfriend.

It was still weird for Julie that they were together. It had been a couple of months now and she was still shocked at the affection between them rather than the snarled barbs that had existed before. Then again, it was weird to be hanging out in Carrie’s house once more. It had been years since they had done that but bridges had slowly been rebuilt after the Orpheum show where Carrie had gone out of her way to congratulate Julie for an amazing performance. Then there had been the breakdown on the way home from Trevor who’d been so shocked at the sight of his old band mates that he’d blurted it all out to Carrie. Her way of dealing with that information had been to burst into Julie’s studio garage mid-practice and exclaim that she’d known there was something about the holograms that didn’t add up. So there was one more person in on the secret but Carrie had proved her worth when she showed up to their next gig carrying a much more state of the art projector, which she’d handed over to Flynn with a roll of her eyes and said, “This is much more believable.”

Rebuilding their friendship had gone from there. Well, for Flynn and Carrie, it had blossomed into a romance which had confused Julie at first but now she could see how all the snark had been hiding an attraction both had been trying to deny. 

“I was sorting through the studio the other day when I came across this squirrelled away in the back of a cupboard.”

Julie peeked over Flynn’s shoulder. “Sunset Curve - Harvard & Stone, May 1995”

It was weird thinking that this was filmed just two months before three of them died. She had read the articles on their death and heard the stories they told about trying to make it as an unsigned band in the mid-90s, but it would be another thing to actually see them like that. This footage had been shot a whole decade before she had been born. 

“Want to watch it?” Flynn asked quietly, picking up on Julie’s slightly somber mood. 

“Yeah. It will be weird to watch the boys rather than perform with them.” 

Carrie put the tape in the old VHS player that Trevor had insisted on keeping in the den no matter how much she and Carrie had teased him when they were little. Guess she knew now why and a pang of sadness speared her chest. No matter how wrong he’d been to steal Luke’s songs without crediting him, she had some sympathy with how losing your whole band must have been. After all, she had nearly lost the boys herself. 

A blast of poor quality audio blasted out of the tv, pulling Julie out of her thoughts. 

“OMG look at your dad!” Flynn said with a laugh. “Those curtains are so nineties.”

The boys were rocking out on the stage under lights that looked hot. The familiar strains of  _ Now or Never  _ rang out and Julie couldn’t pull her eyes away from Luke. He strutted in the centre of the stage looking effortlessly cool, his biceps straining and his hair sweatily sticking to his forehead. His presence was electrifying in a way she couldn’t appreciate when she was up on the stage with him. Yeah, sure she was always drawn to sing towards him or share the mic but that was all about performing well on stage. Nothing was worse than a flat stage presence - her mom had hammered that into her head from a young age. However, now, watching Luke light up as if this was what he was born to do left her speechless. And somehow hot. She could feel the heat in her cheeks and she pulled at the collar of her top to allow cool air to circulate as she tried her hardest not to stare at the way his muscles contracted with every chord he played. On screen, Luke shook his visibly damp hair out of his eyes and his skin glistened with sweat. It was a lot for her to take in and she wasn’t sure she would ever be able to look him in the eyes again.

The giggles pulled her out of her trance.

“I think you broke Julie,” Flynn said, elbowing Carrie playfully in the side.

“I think Luke broke Julie.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said.

“Uh huh, that’s why your face has enough heat to power the entire Los Angeles grid.”

Flushing even more, Julie placed her hands on her cheeks in a futile attempt to cool them down. It wasn’t her fault that Luke was that mesmerising on stage. The sheer passion and enjoyment that he put into his performance was palpable. 

“I just...I didn’t expect it to be that much. The lights used today aren’t as hot and you don’t sweat like that.”

“Hmm the lights...sure,” Flynn teased.

“Okay it’s not just the lights. He’s a natural up there and yeah I knew that but I didn’t  _ know _ that.”

“But you...like you and Luke-” Carrie stopped and gave her a weird look. “Have you not watched your performances back?”

“No.”

And she hadn’t. It was one thing being able to perform once more but it was quite another thing to be able to watch any of the footage back. She wasn’t quite there in her journey yet and yes, she knew it was an important part of improving the band but she knew instinctively that they had chemistry. It had felt right from the moment they had poofed onto the stage during  _ Bright _ . As if they were meant to perform together.

“Well we have to rectify that immediately,” Carrie said, changing the TV over to YouTube. 

“Hang on, babe,” Flynn said, putting her hand over the tv remote before switching her attention to Julie. “Do you want to watch your performances?”

She smiled. And that’s why Flynn was the best. They had never discussed Julie watching her YouTube channel but Flynn automatically knew that she hadn’t and why she hadn’t. “I don’t know.”

“You don’t have to,” Flynn said earnestly.

“But how will she-” Carrie started to say before Flynn cut her off with a handwave.

“It’s up to her if she’s ready or not.”

Julie bit her lip. Having seen the old Sunset Curve footage, she was now curious about what Julie and the Phantoms looked like on stage. Was Luke as effervescent when performing with her or were they not as good as his old band? What would she do if he wasn’t? What if he looked flat compared to when he led Sunset Curve because this was more about her than him? She wasn’t sure she wanted to know but she knew it would eat her alive if she didn’t. 

“Go on,” she said. “Let’s watch them.”

Carrie squealed excitedly and Flynn gave her a smug smirk and said, “Prepare yourself.”

She wasn’t sure what either of those responses meant and her heartrate picked up as the familiar beginning of  _ Edge of Great  _ started. It was weird watching her sing once more. Her mum would always film her recitals but it had been a couple of years since that had happened and those recitals felt very much like part of her childhood in a way that the band didn’t. Then the boys poofed in and it was fun watching the crowd react. The energy bumped up and relief flooded through her as she realised they all had stage presence too. The chemistry between them was vastly different to that of Sunset Curve but not in a bad way. It was just different because they were a different band with a different sound. It took her a minute or so to clock how Luke’s eyes followed her around and how she dodged all interaction with him. He looked like a kicked puppy and this sad version of him kept her gaze just as passionate frontman Luke had. Then his improvised solo kicked in - and she remembered her surprise as he walked towards her, echoing her singing with his riff. In the version they had written it was meant to have either piano or her singing alone. And she watched as she turned towards him and scrunched her nose up as she sang directly to him and the way his face broke into a delighted smile. She was still recovering from that when he joined her at piano for the outro and any excuses she had been mentally preparing for the undeniable chemistry between them was silenced. Her face flushed hot once more as she watched herself sing so intimately to Luke - almost as if she was intruding on a private moment.

“Erm..” she said when the video stopped. She couldn’t even go any further because what did you say when you saw performance footage of yourself flirting through music. Didn’t mean she wouldn’t try. She had to try and save face. “I can-”

“Nope,” Flynn interrupted. “Before you try and explain any of that away, we’re watching  _ Finally Free  _ and then you can talk.”

So she sat, red cheeked, through her and Luke making eyes at each other. On a more detached level she could definitely appreciate that the band was as electric on stage as she could have wished but the majority of her brain was taken up with the realisation that she was not as subtle as she thought at hiding her crush on Luke and that he appeared to have similar feelings. If the heart-eyes he shot her way couldn’t be denied no matter how hard she tried to rationalise them away. Then the way Alex and Reggie watched them and then smiled knowingly at each other meant that they were well aware of what was happening. They were flirting openly on stage for the world to watch.

“My dad has seen these!” she exclaimed, horrified. No wonder he was dropping more and more hints about wanting to Facetime with the guys. 

“And there it is,” Flynn said.

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I did! I told you not to make eye contact with Luke at your party and then he wooed you with his guitar skills and I knew it was impossible trying to stop whatever this is.”

“Chemistry like that cannot be denied,” Carrie said knowledgeably. “Or feelings.”

“I am never going to be able to look at him again.”

“Then he’ll just improvise a different way to get your attention,” Carrie said perkily. 

Julie groaned. 

“Or you could just actually address what’s happening. I’ve given up telling you to stay away from the cute air. You might as well lean into how much you are into each other and say it out loud.”

Bugged eyed, she said, “What would I even say? And why does it have to me?”

Flynn sighed. “Because its clear that this idiot is content to just stare at you like a lovesick puppy.”

“To be fair, he’s a ghost,” Carrie pointed out pragmatically. “He’s probably being all noble and trying to suppress his feelings for the ‘greater good’.” 

“Ugh, boys,” Flynn said, holding out her fist for Carrie to bump.

“Thanks for saving me from their stupidity, babe,” Carrie said, leaning in to kiss Flynn.

“As cute as this is - none of it helps me! I do have a stupid boy to deal with and how am I going to do it?”

“Never fear, we got you,” Flynn said as she snuggled into Carrie’s embrace. 

For the rest of the night, Flynn and Carrie coached Julie in how to get her man.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Julie takes the plunge

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wasn't going to write any more for this as it was mainly born from me wanting Flynn and Carrie to tease Julie about her reaction to Luke but you all were lovely in your response and asked for more so I wrote Julie being brave and talking to Luke about her feelings.

_ Be bold. Be brave. Be bold. Be brave. Be bold. Be brave  _

Julie chanted the mantra Flynn and Carrie had sent her off with this morning. She could do this. She could handle revealing her feelings and a potentially very awkward conversation. She had done worse.

_ But not like this _ , the irritating part of her brain whispered.  _ Can you really bare your soul and have your feelings rejected? _

“Ugh,” she said, whacking her hand against her head as if that would somehow displace the unwelcome thoughts. She was going to have to do this straight away. There was no way she could wait until the end of band practice to have this conversation. She would definitely lose her nerve. “Okay, I got this.”

“You okay, Julie?”

Julie leapt in the air as Alex’s voice came behind her.

“Yeah,” she said whirling to face him. “I’m fine. Totally fine.”

He gave her that patented ‘ _ you sure _ ’ face that he had perfected. “You seem a little jumpy there.”

Plastering a wide smile on her face, she said, “Well, that’s what happens when a ghost sneaks up on you.”

“I called out hello first.”

“Oh.”

‘“Okay,” Alex said, in the tone of voice he usually saved for Reggie and she winced. She must really be out of it for him to use that on her.

“I just need to talk to Luke about something and I’m-” Julie trailed off and just stared down to where she twisted her hands together.

“Oh.  _ Oh _ ,” Alex said. “I’ll just grab Reggie, tell him about the puppy walk this pet shelter near here does. He’ll refuse to play until he’s seen them.”

“Thanks, Alex.”

He smiled understandingly at her and poofed into the garage. There was a minute or so of raised voices and then silence. Julie took that as her cue and opened the garage doors.

Luke was inside, putting his guitar back on his stand with the kind of pout he got when things didn’t go his way. 

“Band practice has been delayed,” he said grumpily. “Alex stupidly mentioned something about dogs and Reggie has to go and see them. Apparently it comes before music.”

She couldn’t help but smile at the petulant way he kicked his foot against the concrete floor as he said this. He truly was a toddler at times. 

“That’s okay,” she said before she pulled in a deep breath. “There’s something I wanted to talk to you about anyway.”

He picked up on her anxious tone. Of course he did. Luke was always able to pick up on her moods. He took a step towards her, a furrow between his brows. “Is everything okay?”

_ Here goes,  _ she thought.  _ Be bold. Be brave.  _

“Yeah. Yeah. Just...I wanted to talk about us. About how I really like you.  _ Like _ like you,” she finished with a rush before closing her eyes as if not being able to see would somehow make this conversation over already.

Silence greeted her words and she counted to ten in her head waiting for him to say something. Anything. But he didn’t. Scrunching up the rest of her courage, she opened her eyes slowly. Luke stood as still as a statue, just staring at her as if he couldn’t figure out how to put words together.

“Luke?” she queried quietly. “Are you okay?”

He shook his head as if coming out of a trance. “Yeah, fine. I’m fine.”

Luke didn’t sound fine. His voice was all strangled as if getting words out was difficult and her heart sank. She had told him she liked him and he had frozen up. Which meant he didn’t like her back. All the chemistry on stage was precisely just that and she’d read way too much into it. All the stories she’d listened to from her mom about her bands and how being up on stage would bring out a different side of you. That was clearly the case with Luke and she’d jumped to conclusions that weren’t true. She’d ignored how he shared a mic with Reggie, which proved that he had chemistry with everyone he sang with. Luke was the consummate showman and he knew how to put on a performance and she had stupidly thought it was real. And now it was weird between them. 

“Oh.” Julie winced as she heard the heartbreak in her own voice and wrapped her arms protectively around her torso. She had to somehow play this off as if confessing her unrequited feelings was just an everyday occurrence. “It’s okay. We can just forget about this whole conversation. How about we look at the bridge that was bugging you so much.”

“Wait!” Luke said, surging forward towards her. “That’s not...that’s not what I meant. I was just taken aback.”

She tilted her head, trying to figure out what his mixed reactions meant. He continued to move towards her until he was close enough that it felt as if they were cocooned in their own private bubble. A shy smile broke out across his face and his hand rubbed the back of his head. “I’m not very good at this.”

“This?”

“Talking about how I feel. Alex says I’m emotionally challenged and it’s why I’m so good at writing songs because it's the only way I can express myself.”

“You do write good songs.”

“Yeah,” he said, his smile growing. “But I’d like to be able to at least have this conversation normally so the girl I’m head over heels for doesn’t think I’m rejecting her when in reality I couldn’t breath from how stunned I was.”

“You like me back?”

His hand rose to trace down her cheek gently. “Like doesn’t even cover how I feel for you, Julie.”

Warmth burst from where his hand caressed her cheek and her heart raced. Reaching up, she grasped his wrist and nuzzled her face into his palm. “Like feels too insignificant for how I feel, too. There’s a connection with you that I’ve never felt before. As if you are meant to be part of my life.”

“You touch my soul like nothing else before.”

She flung her arms around him, closing the last remaining centimetres between them. His arms wrapped tightly around her and she sighed happily when he pressed his lips against her temple. Nothing had felt as perfect as being here in Luke’s arms and the melody to  _ Perfect Harmony _ played in her head. Maybe she could now screw up the courage to show him the duet she’d daydreamed about them.

“The puppies had already been walked,” Reggie said sulkily as he poofed back into the studio. “Wait! You’re having cuddle time without me!”

There was the sound of something being slapped and Julie lifted her face out of Luke’s neck and laughed as Alex said, exasperated, “I tried to keep him away for as long as possible.”

Luke lifted his head from where it’d been resting on top of hers. “Alex knew!”

She pulled back and looked up at him. “He found me outside stressing about having this conversation.”

“And some of us are emotionally intelligent enough to figure out things without having to be hit over the head with them.”

“Hang on!” Reggie exclaimed. “Is this actually happening? Are you like  _ together _ together?”

Luke looked inquiringly down at her and she smiled happily up at him and nodded. “Yep,” he said, looking back over at his bandmates. 

“Yay!” Reggie squealed before launching himself at them. “This is so much better than puppies.”

“At the risk of agreeing with Reggie,” Alex said, joining in the impromptu group hug. “But this is awesome.”

Julie snuggled herself into Luke’s chest and patted first Reggie’s arm and then Alex’s. A few months ago, she hadn’t thought she could ever be happy again. Everything hurt too much. But then somehow three ghosts had invaded her home and brought her back to life. 

_ Great friends. Great band. Great guy.  _ No one was taking this away from her.


End file.
